1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to height adjustment of furniture, and in particular, to progressive lift apparatus for supporting furniture legs a distance above a floor surface.
2. Description of Related Art
It is often desired to adjust the height of a piece of furniture above a floor surface. Some prior art designs have also attempted to accommodate the wide variability of furniture leg widths commonly found on household furniture. In doing so, however, these prior art designs have often sacrificed stability and safety, or have become so large and complex as to be prohibitively cumbersome to use and/or expensive to manufacture for large articles of furniture such as beds and couches. Well-known solutions include telescoping legs for chairs and the like, and stackable assemblies, different in structure from the present invention, for placement under the furniture legs.
Prior art solutions have several problems that have not heretofore been solved. First, some prior art has very limited height adjustment. Second, some prior art has variable height adjustment but no capacity for adjustment to variable furniture leg widths. Third, some prior art has variable height adjustment and variable leg width adjustment, but lacks a non-skid surface on the underside to prevent furniture migration when slightly non-vertical forces are applied to the furniture piece. Fourth, some prior art solutions have proved to be unstable and therefore hazardous to those who sit on the furniture, especially if the sitter applies slightly non-vertical forces. Fifth, some prior art, while permitting height and width adjustments, requires the installer to crawl to the midpoint beneath the furniture, which is no small task when dealing with large, heavy pieces of furniture. Sixth, some prior art requires destruction of the furniture legs by drilling and subsequent insertion of elevating bolts and/or screws. Seventh, some prior art, apparently designed for kitchen and/or dining room chairs, when assembled under a bed or couch, would require much longer and heavier assembly pieces and relatively higher cost. Additionally, prior art solutions have proved to be unstable and therefore hazardous to those who sit on the furniture, especially if the sitter applies horizontal forces onto the piece of furniture while sitting, thereby exerting possibly-destabilizing forces on the piece of furniture.
It is therefore desirable to provide a furniture leg lift apparatus that adjusts to lift a furniture leg a selected height above a floor surface, and that accommodates a variety of furniture leg widths. It is further desirable to provide a furniture leg lift apparatus that is stable, compact, and that has simplicity of manufacture.
A preliminary patentability search in Classes 248 and 5, Subclasses 188.2 and 509.1, produced the following patents, some of which may be relevant to the present invention: Sittig, U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 404,992 (issued Feb. 2, 1999); Nichthauser, U.S. Pat. No. 2,366,867 (issued Jan. 9, 1945); Martin, U.S. Pat. No. 2,893,164 (issued Jul. 7, 1959); Martin, U.S. Pat. No. 2,933,850 (issued Apr. 26, 1960); Winters, U.S. Pat. No. 3,232,253 (issued Feb. 1, 1966); Crochet, U.S. Pat. No. 3,952,983 (issued Apr. 27, 1976); Gessler, U.S. Pat. No. 4,117,999 (issued Oct. 3, 1978); Webb, U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,088 (issued Jan. 26, 1982); Hobbins, U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,896 (issued Oct. 29, 1991); Langlais et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,775 (issued Apr. 28, 1992); Harvey, U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,097 (issued Apr. 27, 1993); McGinley, U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,227 (issued Jul. 6, 1993); Christensen, U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,825 (issued Aug. 2, 1994); Saperstein et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,631 (issued Sep. 13, 1994); Williams, U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,429 (issued Apr. 1, 1997); Eke, U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,422 (issued May 4, 1999); and Woods et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,012,185 (issued Jan. 11, 2000).
Additionally, a furniture riser sold under the trademark RomaLift is shown at page 79 of the Sammons Preston catalog for the year 2000.
None of these references, either singly or in combination, disclose or suggest the present invention.